Earth & Beyond Q&A #1

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Introduction: Producer Eric Wang starts a new feature series on Westwood Studios' cool-looking persistent state galaxy.

By Richard Aihoshi - 'Jonric'

In 1985, two young men named Brett Sperry and Louis Castle sat down to work in a garage in Las Vegas. From this humble and unlikely beginning, they built a company that has become one of the leading names in the entertainment software industry, Westwood Studios. After developing a number of successful titles including Eye of the Beholder, it became a publisher in 1992. That year proved to be a landmark in another way as the studio released Dune II: The Building of a Dynasty, a title that is now widely regarded as the one that defined the real-time strategy genre. A few years later came Command & Conquer, the first game in a hugely successful series that has since gone on to sell many millions of units.

The launch of Earth & Beyond later this year will mark Westwood Studios' entrance into persistent state gaming. While the company is not the originator of the category this time, it is working to push its boundaries by creating a game where the majority of the action takes place in space, with players flying customized vessels on missions involving any or all of exploration, trade and combat. Naturally, our attention was aroused as soon as we heard about the game, and after getting the chance for some hands-on play plus some question and answer time with members of the team a couple of weeks ago, we're even more enthusiastic than before. As a result, we're extremely pleased to begin a new series of features on the game with this introductory Q&A with Producer Eric Wang.

Jonric: For the benefit of any readers who are not yet familiar with Earth & Beyond, please describe the game in overview. In your opinion, what are its key elements and features, and why?

Eric Wang: Earth & Beyond is the first massively multiplayer online RPG set in space. Players are able to choose and completely customize their character and then set off into space in their own starship to live the life of their favorite science fiction character. Players can choose to be fighters, tradesmen, or explorers, or a combination of those. Earth & Beyond is truly an RPG in that the goal of the game is to advance your character and work with others to achieve your goals.

Jonric: What do Westwood Studios and Earth & Beyond bring to the persistent state category? What are the distinguishing aspects of the game in terms of your design philosophy and goals, and the gameplay style or experience you are aiming to provide?

Eric Wang: We've worked really hard in Earth & Beyond to improve on the massively multiplayer genre. There were a lot of elements in current games of this crop that made them difficult, cumbersome, and in general, not a lot of fun. For example, we're putting a lot of emphasis into making sure all players have fun in Earth & Beyond, whether they have 30 minutes or three hours to play. We've taken the pain out of player death by not giving them a triple penalty (loss of the body, loss of XP, loss of location). We're also giving players three different ways to gain experience in the game. Rather than the usual gameplay mechanic of "fight, kill, sell, repeat," players will be able to advance in the game without ever having to take up arms. Combine those with many more improvements along with a brand-new, exciting and gorgeous setting, and we think we have something that will blow gamers away.

Jonric: In what part of space does the game takes place? How large is this area, and what are its main distinguishing features? What are some of the major landmarks or notable locations?

Eric Wang: Earth & Beyond is set in our galaxy, and players will instantly recognize planets such as Mars, Saturn, Jupiter and, of course, Earth. Although not astronomically correct in terms of distance and size, we've nonetheless created a huge, expansive setting for players to adventure in. In addition to the familiar planets that I mentioned, the team was also able to really free their minds to come up with some impressive and unique elements in the gameworld. Players will encounter fierce black holes, wondrous nebula, alien planets, not to mention all the incredible monsters and aliens you've only seen in your imagination.

Jonric: What steps are you taking to ensure that this huge gameworld is not monotonous or repetitive? What different types of areas, sectors, planets and game locations can players expect to see?

Eric Wang: Designing a game in space was a big challenge for precisely that reason. It was quite a challenge to offer players this expansive setting, but still being able to fill it all with content. Fortunately, we were able to come up with some creative solutions. We started out by clustering activity around navigation beacons in the game. Obviously, the further out in space players go, the more dangerous it becomes, and we've added pockets of activity and monsters out in deep space that players will be able to find and fight... at their own caution.

Beyond that, we knew it would become monotonous for players to cross enormous sectors of space, so each ship comes equipped with a warp drive which allows rapid access to different waypoints.

Building the ability to fly in the atmosphere of planets was another way to allow players to experience different environments. We have built different type of planets that range from gas giants to lush temperate worlds.

Jonric: With respect to the racial communities in Earth & Beyond, how will they differ in terms of size and cultural and thematic influences?

Eric Wang: We have three distinct races in the game, all human, but all with very different philosophies. The Progen are the warrior race in the game. Genetically bred to be super humans, they have the biggest weapons and the fastest ships, and believe that they will be the one savior of the human race from alien invaders. The Jenquai, on the other hand, are the scientist-explorers of the game. Having little interest in combat, the Jenquai instead seek knowledge from exploring the far corners of the galaxy. They have the best sensors and shields, which allow them to travel to alien planets and sectors that other races would instantly perish in. Finally, the Terrans are the tradesman of the galaxy. They live to turn a profit and spend their days searching the galaxy for rare minerals or items that can be bought cheap and sold high.

Despite the unique nature of each race, they are all interdependent. All races must work together to accomplish objectives.

Jonric: What are the advantages and disadvantages associated with having three different core gameplay mechanics, namely combat, trade and exploration?

Eric Wang: Well, the biggest advantage is definitely for the players. We've given them three dramatically different ways to advance through the game, so they can really tailor their play style. Previously in massively multiplayer games, every mission or quest revolved around killing a mob, so players were confined to a very linear style of gameplay. Earth & Beyond changes all that.

Of course, that's not to say it hasn't presented challenges. In any multiplayer game, balance has always been the biggest design challenge, and it's been even more so in Earth & Beyond. In addition to balancing the three races, we've had to anticipate all the different ways players will customize their character, and plan accordingly.

Another challenge was the creation of enough content to satisfy explorers, traders, and of course warriors. Building systems and content to support these different styles of play was a tremendous amount of work.

Jonric: If you had to pick just one thing, what will set Earth & Beyond apart from other persistent state games of the current generation? And what kinds of gamers do you feel it will be most likely to attract?

Eric Wang: I think the accessibility of the game is what will really appeal to customers. The massively multiplayer genre has always been kind of foreboding to casual gamers, because they feel that they must spend hundreds of hours playing in order to "keep up with the Jones." We're deliberately designing Earth & Beyond for all types of players. That, in combination with a unique, gorgeous setting we think will really appeal to all gamers.

Jonric: Where does development stand at this time? When should you be ready to launch, and what are your plans with respect to testing between now and then?

Eric Wang: We are currently in a full-blown public test with thousands of people playing the game. We'll be growing the test throughout the summer, eventually to include 100,000 people and we will ship sometime in August.

While testing has yet to reach the stage where information from the participants is flowing freely, Westwood Studios did recently invite some guests to see and play a recent build of the game, and reaction from that group was tremendously positive. While there's a lot of work still left for the team to do, Earth & Beyond looks like a title with exceptional potential. We will be watching its progress very closely, and we thank Eric Wang for getting us off to a very informative start.